Review by emduberville -- Snow Country Lane by Sarah Vail
1 posts
[Following is a volunteer review of "Snow Country Lane" by Sarah Vail.]
Snow Country Lane by Sarah Vail is a fast-paced crime drama featuring Tim McAndrews as an Assistant District Attorney who has recently married the love of his life, Dani St. Clair. Dani, who is very wealthy in her own right, takes Tim to her family estate in the mountains for a romantic weekend. During the trip Tim and Dani witness an attempted abduction of a child on the ski hill. Tim and two friends (one seemingly a security guard for a neighboring senator, one a friend on a city police force) go in pursuit on Skidoos. Eventually Tim rescues the little girl and so begins his involvement in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a kidnapper of innocent children and a high-profile trafficking ring. There is the scheming Senator, his rather shady assistant, a wonderfully well written reporter with a major crush on the hero and a second investigative team from the FBI involved in this exciting story which adds to the complexity of finding and solving crimes that operate on the edges of polite society.
The characters in the story are well built and believable. Tim is particularly strongly imagined and executed, having very human doubts about his future with Dani and those frailties give him a deeper humanity as a character. My favorite character in the book was the reporter, Beebe Knoll. She is absolutely the sneaky story searcher we imagine a good reporter to be, she has some very unlovable qualities written into the novel, but by the end of the story the reader cannot help feeling for her and wishing her the best. Beebe adds romantic tension to the seemingly perfect story of Tim and Dani, and I felt Beebe to be the most colorful character and a great juxtaposition to Dani in the book. I would love to see another story with her as the focus.
The elements I liked most were the character development of both Tim McAndrews (our hero) and Beebe Knoll. I also liked the way the drama and suspense built over the story, without too much lag time at the climax Tim is trying to solve the mystery of the abductions. The strong ending to the story was also really enjoyable, it had excellent closure but didn't feel too happily ever after. The element I liked least was the authors use of the word ‘perp’, which to be honest almost felt like it was a bit unnatural for her. A few times she switched to ‘unsub’, which again felt a little like knowledge that would only be used by criminal profilers with experience (which at this point Tim does not have). Perpetrator would possibly work better; it requires less implied knowledge on the part of the reader. The only other issue I had with the story was how the initial chapters introduce each character/motivation in a slightly isolated way. The linkage of characters happens a bit later than I usually see in this genre and it took a bit of time to get things totally straight. I have seen this done in other books, but here it still seemed very slightly stilted. These chapters are very obviously setting the ground for the story and once it hits Chapter 8 everything comes together, but the danger is that readers might give up because they cannot quite see the story line developing.
There is very minor romantic/erotic scenery in the book, it never progresses beyond insinuation. There is no profanity in the book either, it reads as a high-quality criminal/suspense drama. Some readers may find the subject matter distasteful; child trafficking is unpleasant to think about for some. There are a few graphic details about the actions of child traffickers, which I found to add to the believability of the story. The author is clear in her description of police and federal criminal operations, which adds to the believability of the novel. Lovers of authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton and Kathy Riechs will find plenty to please them in this novel.
I give this book 4 out of 4 stars Once the story hit Chapter 8 it was off and running and I couldn’t put it down. The climax was well paced and did not keep dropping the reader in extended cliff hangers as some modern writers do. The characters all had purpose, they came together nicely as a group and left the availability of other story lines in the readers imagination. As a crime story it had well researched technical details that supported the plot, and the realism helped to ground the story in our world.
******
Snow Country Lane
View: on Bookshelves |
Snow Country Lane by Sarah Vail is a fast-paced crime drama featuring Tim McAndrews as an Assistant District Attorney who has recently married the love of his life, Dani St. Clair. Dani, who is very wealthy in her own right, takes Tim to her family estate in the mountains for a romantic weekend. During the trip Tim and Dani witness an attempted abduction of a child on the ski hill. Tim and two friends (one seemingly a security guard for a neighboring senator, one a friend on a city police force) go in pursuit on Skidoos. Eventually Tim rescues the little girl and so begins his involvement in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a kidnapper of innocent children and a high-profile trafficking ring. There is the scheming Senator, his rather shady assistant, a wonderfully well written reporter with a major crush on the hero and a second investigative team from the FBI involved in this exciting story which adds to the complexity of finding and solving crimes that operate on the edges of polite society.
The characters in the story are well built and believable. Tim is particularly strongly imagined and executed, having very human doubts about his future with Dani and those frailties give him a deeper humanity as a character. My favorite character in the book was the reporter, Beebe Knoll. She is absolutely the sneaky story searcher we imagine a good reporter to be, she has some very unlovable qualities written into the novel, but by the end of the story the reader cannot help feeling for her and wishing her the best. Beebe adds romantic tension to the seemingly perfect story of Tim and Dani, and I felt Beebe to be the most colorful character and a great juxtaposition to Dani in the book. I would love to see another story with her as the focus.
The elements I liked most were the character development of both Tim McAndrews (our hero) and Beebe Knoll. I also liked the way the drama and suspense built over the story, without too much lag time at the climax Tim is trying to solve the mystery of the abductions. The strong ending to the story was also really enjoyable, it had excellent closure but didn't feel too happily ever after. The element I liked least was the authors use of the word ‘perp’, which to be honest almost felt like it was a bit unnatural for her. A few times she switched to ‘unsub’, which again felt a little like knowledge that would only be used by criminal profilers with experience (which at this point Tim does not have). Perpetrator would possibly work better; it requires less implied knowledge on the part of the reader. The only other issue I had with the story was how the initial chapters introduce each character/motivation in a slightly isolated way. The linkage of characters happens a bit later than I usually see in this genre and it took a bit of time to get things totally straight. I have seen this done in other books, but here it still seemed very slightly stilted. These chapters are very obviously setting the ground for the story and once it hits Chapter 8 everything comes together, but the danger is that readers might give up because they cannot quite see the story line developing.
There is very minor romantic/erotic scenery in the book, it never progresses beyond insinuation. There is no profanity in the book either, it reads as a high-quality criminal/suspense drama. Some readers may find the subject matter distasteful; child trafficking is unpleasant to think about for some. There are a few graphic details about the actions of child traffickers, which I found to add to the believability of the story. The author is clear in her description of police and federal criminal operations, which adds to the believability of the novel. Lovers of authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton and Kathy Riechs will find plenty to please them in this novel.
I give this book 4 out of 4 stars Once the story hit Chapter 8 it was off and running and I couldn’t put it down. The climax was well paced and did not keep dropping the reader in extended cliff hangers as some modern writers do. The characters all had purpose, they came together nicely as a group and left the availability of other story lines in the readers imagination. As a crime story it had well researched technical details that supported the plot, and the realism helped to ground the story in our world.
******
Snow Country Lane
View: on Bookshelves |
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